Company liquidation short-circuits efforts by landlord to collect allegedly unpaid rent

Two Brisbane entrepreneurs have tipped their company into liquidation just days before their landlord’s claim for allegedly unpaid rent was to be heard in court.

TWO Brisbane bizoids have tipped their company into liquidation just days before their landlord’s claim for allegedly unpaid rent was to be heard in court this month.

Both of these gents, Jacob Gough and Adrian Brown, have now moved on to other ventures, including one which aims to help start-up firms source funding and business skills.

Jacob Gough and Adrian Brown. Picture: Twitter

Indeed, Brown (who, for some unknown reason, also goes by the name Adrian Osman) has relocated to Melbourne, where his incubator outfit Pitchblak has been endorsed by none other than Dr Glen Richards, the Greencross founder and former Shark Tank star.

“Any entrepreneur who wants the best team supporting them with their idea needs to work with Pitchblak. There’s no other company in Australia with a similar offering,’’ Richards says on the company’s website.

Greencross founder Glen Richards

Gough and Brown were the sole directors of Rapid Growth Group Pty Ltd, which launched six years ago and provided guidance for young entrepreneurs from their office above the now-closed Mill on Constance pub in Fortitude Valley. (That venue, by the way, is about to re-open as the Oche darts bar.)

The building owner discovered that the offices had been vacated without notice by Rapid Growth in May last year, leaving what he claims is more than $70,000 in delinquent rent and outgoings.

After his letters of demand got no response, the landlord lodged a claim in Magistrates Court in October 2018 and the matter was finally going to be heard last month.

But that claim came to nothing when Gough and Brown appointed a liquidator over Rapid Growth on November 1.

That might have been the end of it but the landlord has personal guarantees from these gents. His lawyer, Brendan Nyst, said that he’ll be taking steps “to pursue the directors personally’’.

AVOIDING MISTAKES

Brown told us yesterday that there had been a dispute with the landlord over rent but then he declined to comment further and hung up the phone. Gough did not respond to a request for comment and Richards could not be contacted.

Rapid Growth liquidator James Koutsoukos told us the company had ceased trading a while ago and the directors had determined that it was insolvent. He could not provide any details on how many creditors are owed money or how much they are out of pocket.

Meanwhile, Brown is one of three directors of Pitchblak, which promotes itself as a vehicle to help start-up operators “get investment and avoid the mistakes we’ve made building our own companies’’.

Mr Yum food app lets diners see each dish on a menu before they order.

The company has backed a number of innovative business concepts, including the three directors’ own entity known as Mr Yum, an app which allows restaurant diners to scan a barcode on the menu to provide pictures and additional information about each dish.

They have already raised $1.5 million in seed capital for that venture.

The trio have also generated more than $2 million in revenue for their Nudo business, which offers young couples a set-price wedding package for $33,000.

Gough, who co-founded Pitchblak but is no longer associated with the firm, is a former physiotherapist and self-described “beach bum at heart’’.

His latest project is a video messaging service known as Async.

HEAVY HITTER

They’re pretty chuffed over at the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, where a heavy hitter in the artistic and commercial worlds has joined the board chaired by Chris Freeman.

Valmay Hill takes on the new job after spending eight years as CEO of the Brisbane Festival and, before that, project director for international events at the Sydney Opera House, which included APEC, World Youth Day and the FIFA World Wide Congress.

New QSO director Valmay Hill.

Her impressive CV also reveals experience as treasurer for TNT Worldwide, acquisitions consultant for Health Services Australia and a stint with Esso Australia which entailed a five-year posting in the US.

In case all this wasn’t enough, Hill still serves on several advisory boards and chairs the Sunnybank Performing Arts & Cultural Centre.